"I mean, certainly the reaction to it is pretty apparent," Hines began. "I'm not sure if I have an exact opinion, because we're not doing it. I try not to get into judging what other folks do, I certainly don't appreciate them chiming in on what we should or shouldn't be doing, particularly because, how would they know. I understand where it's coming from.

"I think there is, at least among a certain segment of the gaming audience," he went on. "I don't think they quite understand the development process and the point at which you have to stop making the game and you have to finish the game. So, the content people stop making new content a fair amount of time before it ships; it's not like in the old days when it was like the day before or a week before."

Thanks to such misunderstandings, developers are often put through the wringer by fans. Ultimately, Hines suggests, everyone should just "do what they think works best for them, and the customers have the decision to buy or not to buy as they see fit."

While such decisions may appear cynical, they simply make good business sense. "There's a pretty long gap where your artists and designers are fixing a bug if they get one, or they may be playing the game to find bugs, but they're not making a new anything for a long time, and you have creative people who are used to creating - so why would you make them wait some period of time, months in some cases, to start making new stuff so you can say it was after DLC?"

Day 1 DLC…

Is fine.

6

Is okay as long as it's not ripped from the game.

75

Is simply asking me to pay more for the game I already bought.

116

The poll was created at 22:45 on April 12, 2013, and so far 197 people voted.

Please wait, submitting your vote...

Other games

Torment and South Park

“

The current PayPal number for Torment is now up to $196,896. We'll continue reporting the update through month end.

”— Brian Fargo

“

Hey folks, we're still working on South Park! Wish we could say more, but Ubi will announce new details as they are ready!

”— @Obsidian

JES talks for an Eternity

Well, 4 minutes actually.

TES:O

Will your level be scaled up when joining a PvP zone, or will you remain the same level and be a part of a level "bracket"? For example, if I am level 16 and enter a PvP zone, will I be scaled up to max level along with everyone else, or will I remain level 16 and play with people in the 10-19 bracket? – By Yousef AlQattan

You will be scaled up to approximately level 50. You’ll be able to remain competitive, but a true level 50 will have the advantage of having more skills and abilities than you.

How much emphasis do you put into designing quests that pop up dynamically or require you to decipher their hints, rather than being tied to any specific NPC quest giver? Will we be able to initiate quests through a variety of natural triggers (like entering an area or killing a given mob), or will most quests be centralized to NPCs handing them out? – By Ronnie Solbakken

This is a good question. Our quests are designed with purpose in mind, or “context,” if you prefer. We feel very strongly as a team that quests need to make sense and quest granting should be done in a way that is grounded in the world. While we do have various methods for granting quests, most are given by various NPCs. There are still many that are done in other ways, such as finding books, notes, corpses, etc.

It’s also important to keep in mind that there are many activities that aren’t quests. We feel it is just as important to explore, craft, and do various other activities.

With such an expanse of playable area, will the player be able to fast travel from anywhere so long as certain conditions are met (i.e. not in the middle of battle)? – By Douglas Ownbey

As long as you have visited a Wayshrine, you will be able to travel to it. Travel between Wayshrines is free. Fast traveling to a Wayshrine from anywhere will cost you gold, and there are limits how often you can do this.

Will I be able to make/eat sweet rolls? I must know! – By Luke Clarkson

Yes. And Fishy Sticks, of course.

I read that you can loot items from houses, crates, barrels, etc. How fast will these items respawn? If someone looted the area some minutes ago, will I find only empty boxes? – By Dennis Mull

It is possible that you’d find empty containers, but we hope the rate at which these things reappear will be frequent enough for you to find items in many cases.

You mentioned that there will be permanent character choices that affect the phase of an area—for example, saving a village or not saving a village. Let's say I did save the village and my friend did not. We are not in the same phase; how will we be able to play together in that specific zone? – By Pavle Vivec

In some areas, phasing (or “layering” as we call it) is not based on a choice, but on whether or not you’ve done a certain thing yet. In this case, separation from another player would be temporary. In other areas, it can be based off of a choice you’ve made. Those choices tend to come at the end of the activity for an area, reducing separation.

There are other mechanisms we use to reinforce choice that have nothing to do with layering. You may experience something completely different than someone else based on your individual choices, but the ways we show this don’t separate you from others at all. The latter techniques are used far more frequently than layering. And finally, there are still other solutions we’ll discuss later that enable you to better stay together with others even if you’d normally be in different layers.

Also note that layering and channels are not the same thing. The megaserver places players intelligently into channels to make sure your gameplay experience is good and to prevent overcrowding. So if you’re in Glenumbra, but you can’t see your friend, you may be in a different channel. You’ll simply be able to join your friend in their channel or vice-versa. Channels, however, will be largely invisible, as we’ll try to put you in the best channel with the highest preponderance of your social connections.

Since space on the hotbar will be limited, how will you implement using non-combat spells such as waterbreathing, water walking, magelight, open lock, and persuasion? What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? – By Paul Ballhorn

All spells will be cast through the hotbar or quickslot. European or African?

Besides other class skills, can all skills be acquired in ESO? Will getting the Mages Guild skill line still allow you to get the Fighters Guild skill line? – By Immanuel Ericson

In general, you’ll be able to get most of the skill lines. As you mentioned, class and racial skills are exclusive to your choices. However, there are some mutually exclusive skill lines—for instance, you cannot be a werewolf and a vampire at the same time.

I recently read that there are no raids in ESO. Is that true? Does the dev team have a plan to keep those hardcore PvE players interested in end-game content with something that will take the place of a raid? – By Ernesto Eusebio

The problem here is the definition of the word “raid,” which means different things to different people. When we said we won’t have “raids,” we meant that we won’t have raids in the traditional sense of the word—we’ll have our own way to get large groups together. There will absolutely be large-group PvE activity in the game, but we’re not ready to talk about those systems yet. We have mentioned adventure zones in the past, but we won’t go into details until those systems are finalized.

Fanzone

Project Spotlight

Sunrise, Sunset…. The Notable Loot project for Fallout 3 and New Vegas is done for.

“

"I just want to say thanks to everyone who helped out with the project in any way. It's a lot of work and without your vital contributions it could not have been completed. Our notable loot sections are much more organised now, thanks to your efforts!"

Can I just say special thanks to Higgey the Scot for coming through and clearing the peer review that was holding up the project at the end.

Wrap

...The War that wasn't

The Right Honorable Baroness Thatcher, LG (Lady companion, order of the garter), OM (Order of Merit), PC (Privy Councilor), FRS (Fellow, Royal Society)

Rather than the usual relic feature this week, we’re paying tribute to one of the “big names” of the war that wasn’t. This week Baroness Thatcher, first woman to become Prime Minister of the UK has passed at 87 following a stroke.

Although she was a very divisive figure in the UK - particularly where domestic policy is concerned - there is no division on her affect in international affairs during her premiership – a fitting testimony to this is her nickname “the Iron Lady” being coined by a Soviet journalist after a speech (prior to her premiership) where she summed up soviet policy thusly:

“

The Russians are bent on world dominance, and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful imperial nation the world has seen. The men in the Soviet Politburo do not have to worry about the ebb and flow of public opinion. They put guns before butter, while we put just about everything before guns

”

The Baroness entered politics following the 1959 UK election, previously working as a barrister (a lawyer who specialises in court appearances). Twenty years later she led her party (the Conservative party) to electoral victory, and shattered the “glass ceiling” once and for all. Her premiership in domestic policy was divisive, on one hand being held accountable for industrial strikes, high unemplyoemtn and unpopular policies, but on the other seeing a period of a great increase in the personal wealth of the average Briton, and large decreases in tax rates.

In Defence policy, Thatcher was responsible for updating the UK’s nuclear arsenal to the current Trident system (submarine launched missiles) which tripled the UK’s nuclear arms count. She lead her country to war against Argentina to reclaim the Falkland islands (a feat many considered impossible), and helped convince George W Bush to help liberate Iraq from Kuwait, reportedly telling the President “This was no time to go wobbly”, however she resigned her post before the intervention began.

But of course, this section is called “The war that wasn’t”, not the two wars that were, and not only was she there at the end, she declared the war over... Thatcher responded warmly to Mikhal Gorbachev’s attempts to open up and reform the Soviet Union, leading to her November 1988 statement which insisted “We're not in a Cold War now”.

She was opposed to the reunification of Germany, fearing “such a development would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security”, but advocated for republics breaking away from Yugoslavia.

Following persistent low approval ratings, Thatcher was challenged for leadership of the Parliamentary Conservative party in 1990. As a quick translation for readers in countries like the USA, the Prime Minister’s position is analogous to the leader of the House (of Representatives) in that the Prime Minister is typically the leader of the largest party in the House (of Commons in the UK’s case). After losing the leadership, she retired at the next election in 1992.

The Baroness spent her remaining years giving speeches, acting as Chancellor of universities both in the UK and the USA, and writing a book titled “Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World” which she dedicated to Ronald Regan; in this book she argued for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, for Israel to trade land for peace, and for the UK to leave the EU and join the North America Free Trade Area (NAFTA).

Following a series of small strokes, she ended most of her public engagements in 2002, but was seen on occasions such as Ronald Regan’s funeral, and the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

The Baroness requested that she not receive a state funeral, but will instead be buried with military honours.

Your next news digest

Full of all the news fit to print, will be on the 19th of April. Ciao. Agent c (talk) 22:39, April 12, 2013 (UTC)